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After overnight rain we were pleased to see it dry as we set off for Wigglesworth with the intention of heading over to Grassington for lunch. Our eventual destination was York and there are several routes possible but only one takes us over the 1200ft contour so obviously that's the one we were heading for. Grassington boasted lots of tea rooms but they were all packed out and very expensive. The car drivers were out in droves now that the sun had come out to play so we sat in the centre of the village and ate our lunch. Just as we were about to set off up Greenhow Hill it got very dark and the rain started. This made slogging up the steep incline much less of a pleasure than I had anticipated. The rain stopped as we reached the summit and we took the right turn at Greenhow and headed down to Knaresborough. Now I had estimated that today's ride would be 60m but by this time the troops were getting restless, York still seemed a long way off and we were all quite tired. I cheered them up with 'It's only another twenty one miles' but this was met with dark looks and sullen behaviour. Bert in particular had had enough and by the time we crossed the A1(M) he was saying things like 'Go on without me' and 'Save yourselves', all quite tragic really. I'm not sure if what happened next counts as drug abuse but I thought 'He needs something' so out came the marzipan. After a good munch of that he was saying 'don't let me hold you up' as he whizzed down the A59 at 20mph with the rest of us struggling to keep up. The sugar buzz wore off just as we reached the Youth Hostel and things calmed down to normality.
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The 2003 cycle tour got off to a rather inauspicious start for Calum and I. Torrential rain marred our progress down Maryhill Road in Glasgow as we wound our way to Glasgow Central. By the time we got on the train we were well and truly soaked, squelchy socks... the lot. We took the 10:38 to Oxenholme, no problems this year with the train and as we sat and looked out of the window the weather improved slightly so that by the time we had to start cycling again the rain had stopped and we had a dull cool afternoon. We followed the same route I have used several times before, taking the B6254 over to Kirkby Lonsdale. This road is not hilly but is sufficiently undulating to make progress slow, especially on the first day out. From there it is a short step on the horrible A65 to reach the relative quiet of the A683 south and then on to quiet lanes to reach Upper Bentham. From here it is only 12m to the hostel at Slaidburn, a breeze you might think...... wrong. It's a surprisingly stiff climb up on to Catlow Fell. I once did this in the teeth of a southerly gale with horizontal rain, it's no joke. Today however the sun greeted us when we reached the summit at 1400ft so we were able to relax at the roadside for half an hour or so. It's all down hill from there and we arrived at 18:15, Alan was already there but no sign so far of Bert and Trevor. They arrived later after suffering some navigational difficulties so we wasted no time in sampling the wares at 'Hark to Bounty'.
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Today we didn't rush off too early. After all, we tackled 70m yesterday so the 30 for today should be easy. We headed north enjoying the late morning sun with not a care in the world. The last few holidays have been marred by broken spokes but this year Bert had a new bike and Alan had his rear wheel rebuilt just before this trip, so nothing to worry about then? SNAP...... yes we have another broken spoke. On a flat, smooth bit of tarmac Alan managed to break one of his new spokes! Now wheel building is as much an art as a science so I made a few enquiries about this shop with the expert wheel-builders. They had also replaced his tyres which were expensive Continental Top Touring (with at least another three thousand miles left in them) with soft Taiwan imports. Well that says it all doesn't it.
The nearest town was Malton, it's not really on the way because we had been heading for a highly recommended pub in Lastingham but would there be a bike shop open on a bank holiday Monday? If not we would have to return to York. When we arrived we made a few enquiries, no bike shop but the DIY shop is open. Without any real hope we went to have a look and found an old fashioned DIY shop with an extensive cycle department. The person who runs the cycle department had taken the day off but we were allowed to go in and use the workshop and fit a new wheel from the good range they stocked. After a late lunch we headed up to the hostel at Lockton. What a fantastic place! After eating we asked about the nearest pub, Jenny, the warden said it would take us too long to walk there and back before lights out. Sad faces all round. But if Jenny drove us to the pub there would be enough time. Happy faces all round. If only all hostel wardens were like her.
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It was another sunny day as we headed north once more to the picturesque but tourist bound village of Goathland, just because the TV series Heartbeat is filmed there it has become gridlocked with the cars of tourists. Must be an awful place to live. Bert bought a 1:50000 map here because there were lots of roads missing off our 1:250000 map. It seems that these may have been left of the old map because of the high incidence of 1:4 hills so the new map was a good buy. The shortcut from Beckhole to Grosmont was particularly impressive with severe gradients and fords across fast flowing rivers.
Soon after this we reached the object of this year's tour, the steepest hill in Britain and the only genuine 1:3. But a disaster in the planning meant that we approached it from the top! Calum couldn't stand it, six months of anticipation and then messed up at the last minute, it was too much. When we reached the bottom he turned straight round and went back up. We climbed the High Street in Glaisdale and stopped opposite the general store and an excellent butcher for lunch. We continued up Esk Dale all afternoon, every bit of road is steep so you're either grinding up in low gears at 3mph or enjoying a short whizz at 30mph, this makes for great cycling. After Kildale the terrain levels out quite a bit and we picked up speed but then turned off at Swainby for another terrific climb over the ridge and down the other side to Osmotherly. The hostel shop had beer for sale so we stayed in that night too exhausted for the one mile walk to the pub.